The Best Solution Is Mutual Surrender.

The Best Solution Is Mutual Surrender.  The Frankenstein monster that is Obamacare is dominating the WDC headlines these days.  The President spent the time allocated to him over the weekend to pump up the program and to demonize Republicans for their opposition to it.  The Republicans, or at least a few of them, are advocating shutting down the government appropriations process in order to disable it.  Whatever you might think about the intent of Obamacare, any objective person must admit that is the worst kind of legislation; poorly thought out, lightly discussed, and passed by extraordinary measures.  So…what is to be done with this bad idea that has become reality?

First up, the Democrats and Obama must admit that the legislation (not necessarily the intent) is terribly flawed and is in need of some type of fix.  Selective delay by executive action is not the type of fix I am referring to.  The Republicans must face up to the fact that regardless of how it was accomplished, the legislation has passed muster and is now law.  The Democrats dare not acknowledge the shortcomings of the law for fear of losing the holy grail of “universal health insurance for all”; deemed by Obama to be a fundamental right.  The President himself, in spite of taking unilateral action (legal, illegal, semi-legal?) to delay the implementation of selected portions, continues to hold it forth as a panacea for all of America’s health concerns.  The Democrats in Congress bow up and refuse to recognize any effort, no matter how incremental and how sincere, to rectify some of the problems with the law.  It is time for the Democrats to declare victory and set about the business of ruling the newly conquered lands.  You got your law passed; now set about the business of making it workable.

The Republicans have to wake up from denial and admit that despite their best efforts, the legislation has become law.  They do not have sufficient control in Congress to revoke the legislation and that is not likely to happen in the foreseeable future.  This particular battle is over and re-fighting it only sucks up valuable time and resource.  Shutting down the government in the name of Obamacare opposition is stupid; it is as bad an idea as the legislation itself.  The Republicans have one of two choices.  First, come up with a bill that will address the portions of the law that are unworkable and yet still retain the portions that merit universal (bipartisan) support.  This must be a reasonable piece of legislation that a moderate democrat could find palatable; not some idealistic document that seeks to overturn the fundamental purpose of Obamacare through the process of revision.  Or second, take an incremental approach similar to what the House has embarked upon and try to address the weaker parts of the law.  In order for this to be successful however, the scope of those changes should be released prior to commencing the actual process and it must clearly be labeled revision and not revocation.

Both the Democrats and the Republicans need to have a “Come to Jesus” moment; they both need to admit to something.  The Democrats need to admit they have a problem child on their hands.  The Republicans need to admit that they got whipped in the last big fight and start dealing with the reality of the present.  It is symptomatic of our current dysfunctional government that a law that can find universal support for a large portion of its content is put at peril over the more controversial (and smaller percentage) of its content.  Neither party appears to be interested in what good can come of this debacle; they are only interested in the total defeat of the other.